THE PANTSUIT REPORT: Clinton Email Probe Going Nowhere Because ‘Legal Experts Agree’ Clinton Did Nothing Illegal
Posted: March 27, 2016 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Law & Justice, Mediasphere, Politics, White House | Tags: Albuquerque Police Department, ATF gunwalking scandal, Classified information, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal government of the United States, Hillary Clinton, iPhone, Israel, Pantsuit Report, Tel Aviv, United States, United States Department of Justice Leave a commentDel Quentin Wilber writes: Federal prosecutors investigating the possible mishandling of classified materials on Hillary Clinton’s private email server have begun the process of setting up formal interviews with some of her longtime and closest aides, according to two people familiar with the probe, an indication that the inquiry is moving into its final phases.
“Legally it doesn’t matter if the emails were marked as classified or not, since government officials are obligated to recognize sensitive material and guard against its release. But legal experts noted that such labels would be helpful to prosecutors seeking to prove she knew the information was classified, a key element of the law.”
Those interviews and the final review of the case, however, could still take many weeks, all but guaranteeing that the investigation will continue to dog Clinton’s presidential campaign through most, if not all, of the remaining presidential primaries.
No dates have been set for questioning the advisors, but a federal prosecutor in recent weeks has called their lawyers to alert them that he would soon be doing so, the sources said. Prosecutors also are expected to seek an interview with Clinton herself, though the timing remains unclear.
The interviews by FBI agents and prosecutors will play a significant role in helping them better understand whether Clinton or her aides knowingly or negligently discussed classified government secrets over a non-secure email system when she served as secretary of State.
“This is clearly disruptive to the campaign. It will take her off message and coverage about important aides being questioned is not coverage you’d like to have. However, this issue is largely dismissed by Democratic primary voters and baked into the cake for the general electorate.”
— Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster.
The meetings also are an indication that much of the investigators’ background work – recovering deleted emails, understanding how the server operated and determining whether it was breached – is nearing completion.
“The interviews are critical to understand the volume of information they have accumulated,” said James McJunkin, former head of the FBI’s Washington field office. “They are likely nearing the end of the investigation and the agents need to interview these people to put the information in context. They will then spend time aligning these statements with other information, emails, classified documents, etc., to determine whether there is a prosecutable case.”
“The facts of the case do not fit the law. Reasonable folks may think that federal law ought to prohibit what Hillary did, but it’s just not clear to me that it currently does.”
— Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at American University
Many legal experts believe that Clinton faces little risk of being prosecuted for using the private email system to conduct official business when she served as secretary of State, though that decision has raised questions among some about her judgment. They noted that using a private email system was not banned at the time, and others in government had used personal email to transact official business.
The bigger question is whether she or her aides distributed classified material in email systems that fell outside of the department’s secure classified system. But even if prosecutors determine that she did, chances she will be found criminally liable are low. U.S. law makes it a crime for someone to knowingly or willfully retain classified information, handle it in a grossly negligent manner or to pass it to someone not entitled to see it. Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING: Suspect Taken into Custody in Road Rage Shooting that Killed 4-Year-Old
Posted: October 21, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption | Tags: Aggravated battery, Albuquerque, Albuquerque Police Department, Bernalillo County, CCTV, Drug paraphernalia, Drug Policy Alliance, False evidence, Hardware store, KOB, Mexico, New Mexico, Road rage, Road Rage Shooting, University of New Mexico Leave a commentFour-year-old girl fatally shot in road rage incident
A person of interest in a road rage shooting on a New Mexico interstate that killed a four-year-old girl was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon, Albuquerque police said.
“We’re going to take our time with this. We’re going to take our time, get our appropriate documents, gather evidence appropriately.”
— Police spokesman Tanner Tixier
Police spokesman Tanner Tixier told reporters it was “too soon” to say if authorities captured the man involved in the deadly shooting, but said the person taken into custody matched an earlier description given out by police.
“We are in desperate need of info to help us resolve the conflicting information we’re getting right now. We’re begging for the community’s help.”
— Police Chief Gordon Eden
Tixier said the person of interest was found driving in a different vehicle than the one involved in the road rage incident. He said that vehicle may be in a garage, and authorities need to obtain search warrants to examine it.
“We’re going to take our time with this,” he said Wednesday. “We’re going to take our time, get our appropriate documents, gather evidence appropriately.”
[Read the full report here, at Fox News]
Albuquerque cops spent much of the day in a “desperate” search for a man believed to be in his mid-20s or early 30s who was seen driving a maroon or dark red Toyota sedan when he opened fire in a road rage incident that killed Lilly Garcia as her horrified father and seven-year-old brother watched.
Tixier said earlier Wednesday that police believe the assailant was driving a Corolla or Camry with a spoiler on the trunk and dark tinted windows. The car also had a University of New Mexico plate and may contain the digits “200.”
“We are in desperate need of info to help us resolve the conflicting information we’re getting right now,” Police Chief Gordon Eden said. “We’re begging for the community’s help.”
The killer was going west on Interstate 40 within city limits and pulled up alongside the car the unidentified child was riding in and opened fire around 3 p.m., shooting the child in the head. The child’s heartbroken father told police it was a case of road rage.
“The dad explained there was some type of road rage incident,” said police spokesman Officer Simon Drobik.
The information released Wednesday afternoon on the suspect’s age and the type of vehicle he was driving was the first bit of descriptive information released to the public. Read the rest of this entry »